A senior Labour backbencher has said that a Gordon Brown administration would continue the UK's "constitutional revolution".
Former chairman of the Commons public administration committee Tony Wright told ePolitix.com that there would be a "new wave of constitutional reform activity" should Gordon Brown move into Number 10.
In an interview with this website, Wright, who is also chairman of the Centre for Public Scrutiny, said: "Since 1997 there has been a constitutional revolution. It has been an extraordinary period of change and Brown will continue that.
"My impression is that he is interested in how our system works. He has been thinking about all kinds of issues like our constitution, our identity, and Britishness. So he has a natural interest in the system in a way the prime minister doesn't have.
"I think we would have a new wave of constitutional reform activity."
Recently the chancellor indicated he would make sending British troops into combat dependent on parliamentary approval. Wright says this indicates a new approach.
"The fact he has said what he has said on legislating to give parliament a role in approving the use of armed force is an indication that he is interested in these areas," he said.
"That instance is an example of how he wants to change the use of prerogative powers which the Labour Party has historically said it has wanted to review. I hope that what Gordon has said about that one area might apply more generally.
"On things like House of Lords reform he would want to see that process completed.
"I don't know what he thinks about the electoral system, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he decides we need to rigorously review it."
Wright also said that the constitutional reforms introduced since 1997 were not a coherent programme, and would need addressing by the incoming Brown administration.
"I have expressed a view that it doesn't all hang together. It's been a series of separate reforms rather than a coherent view about what the system should look like," he told ePolitix.com
"It has been a major process and it's been enormously significant. Whatever else you might want to say about the prime minister and the government, you cannot say that there has not been a period of very substantial constitutional reform.
"Having said that, we now need to make it look more systematic. There is a lot of unfinished business, not least with the House of Lords. There are issues about the electoral system and parliament."
